4 ms·

My dad worked at SRI for over thirty years and my mom also worked there. Money has always been an issue at SRI. You always had to be on the lookout for the next

My dad worked at SRI for over thirty years and my mom also worked there. Money has always been an issue at SRI. You always had to be on the lookout for the next contract. If some company or part of the government wasn't paying for your work, there was always the chance that you would get laid off. On the other hand, my dad got to work on a lot of different projects over the years, from growing silicon crystals, to working on holograms, laser range finders, and a laser chemical weapons detector (deployed during the Iraq war), something called the Spindt cathode, which I honestly don't understand, LED printing, and many other projects. I think it was a very fun place to work, but also quite stressful. You always needed to be ready to switch to something new if the money started running out. It doesn't sound all that different from the way it is today. The employee open house was really neat, with different labs showing off whatever they were working on, from early noise canceling tech, to computers with color screens, cell counters, you name it. I know we visited "Doug's Lab" but I have no idea what we saw there. As any aspiring nerd, I was quite impressed that my dad and him were on a first name basis.

sybercecurity 3y ago
Every beltway bandit is like that to some degree. Some try to manage an internal fund and have "on the bench" staff do training or some internal projects, while others will give you a week or two to find something or you're let go. The real pychopath contractor encourages you to "poach" contracts from fellow employees. Basically think of yourself as an independent contractor and the company acting as a support staff and expect little to no loyalty from corporate. I know government staff hates this too. When a project starts to wind down or enter the last 3-6 months, the contractors start disappearing: not showing up for meetings, progress slows, etc. because they are all out looking for their next contract so they don't have a gap. "Every day is a billable day"
nxobject 3y ago
Sounds like a standard soft money research unit at a university, sadly. At least there isn’t the pressure to salami slice publications.

sybercecurity 3y ago

Every beltway bandit is like that to some degree. Some try to manage an internal fund and have "on the bench" staff do training or some internal projects, while others will give you a week or two to find something or you're let go. The real pychopath contractor encourages you to "poach" contracts from fellow employees. Basically think of yourself as an independent contractor and the company acting as a support staff and expect little to no loyalty from corporate. I know government staff hates this too. When a project starts to wind down or enter the last 3-6 months, the contractors start disappearing: not showing up for meetings, progress slows, etc. because they are all out looking for their next contract so they don't have a gap. "Every day is a billable day"

nxobject 3y ago

Sounds like a standard soft money research unit at a university, sadly. At least there isn’t the pressure to salami slice publications.